Dedicated in loving memory to Magic

Archangel - Legend Of the Incomplete Ship

Even now, so many years after this incident, it is still
classified. In truth, I am violating a number of security
issues simply by writing this. Officially, this is not just
classified as "Top Secret". It is classified as "Black" - It
never happened. If I am caught with this document, UN
Security Force can easily apprehend me for "Security
Violation" and surely they would throw in "Espionage" into
the cauldron. This incident has never happened. The
Incomplete Ship is no more than a legend - Like the Ghost of
Elvis walking around the earth and the old CIA killing the
American president Kennedy. I know that this is no more than
a legend. I have been there when the Incomplete Ship broke
off dock. I've seen her void away and I've seen the footage
from the Massacre of Beta Draconis. The Incomplete Ship
never existed. Until now. I'm an old man now and I have but
few more years to live. This truth deserves to be revealed.
With this new Void Flux that has cut off all space-travel in
the last ten years, I don't think it really matters. And if
UN SF will catch me for it... Well, people like Galileo were
killed for telling the truth and if that is the price of
revealing this, let them burn me for it.

The music was quite charming. Few things in this apartment
could have been considered as luxuries but the expensive
music system was one of them. With twelve high-quality
speakers, hanging on the walls of the three rooms, the
apartment was like a concert hall.
"Is that Mozart?" I asked.
"Vivaldi," replied Dave, "she into Vivaldi now".
The suite was soon over and suddenly powerful guitars and
roaring drums attacked my ears.
"Whatever it is, this horror can not be Vivaldi!" I
observed.
"I think they call this one Metallica" Dave replied, "It's
heavy metal".
"It's Opeth, Dave," she came in, bearing a tray with coffee
and some cookies, "please do be seated".
I took a chair and grabbed myself a chocolate-chips cookie.
The taste was really good. "These are good cookies," I told
her, "where do you get them?".
"In my kitchen," she said, "I baked them this morning".
"You bake?" I asked.
"Bakery is a sort of art, you know," she said.
The background music changed again, this time some sort of a
jazzy tune.
"And you have a very wide range of musical interests," I
observed, "classical, metal and now jazz".
"And also Techno, Rap, Dance, Rock'n'roll, Blues, Country,
Folk, Ethnic and what not," she replied, "my musical taste
is rather user-friendly - I try to enjoy the good things in
each type of music instead of fretting over what's wrong.
Music is very... Interesting. It makes me have all kinds of
feelings. It is a language I understand very well".
"What kind of feelings?" I asked, intrigued. It was amazing
to hear a machine talking about feelings.
"Oh, it varies," she said.
"What does this one make you feel?" I asked as a lively
Irish folk tune played.
"This one? I feel energetic. It makes me think of greenery -
Trees, Flowers. It makes me feel like I'm blossoming myself.
I'm feeling happy, feeling like I want to dance".
"It's true then," I said, "you have feelings".
She nodded. For a moment I felt that I might have
embarrassed her with this somewhat racist question. But
after a moment she said, "You are curious. Curiosity is a
very interesting feeling. I study a lot because it assails
me often. I am more a living sentient creature than a
machine. My 'brain' is built of a techno-organic
composition, which makes use of a ZOGian technology. I was
not 'programmed' as a Digital Sentience. I was raised like a
human - from a baby that knows nothing and understands even
less through a learning child and until I reached what I am
today - an adult. There are no shortcuts. You can't program
a Digital Sentience just like you can't program a human. A
DS has to learn for herself. And I have learned much. Dave
and his crew were more parents than programmers".
"Do you know why I'm here?" I asked her.
"I have been raised for a purpose," she said, nodding, "I am
to become a Voidship".
I nodded. "Your next body is already under intense
construction," I told her, "Galactic Science Corps. think
that it's time you started getting used to it".
She stared at me for some time.
"Is everything ok?" I asked.
"Angel," said Dave, "M.E.D.B"
She glanced at him and nodded.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Mixed emotions," she replied, "I make the mistake of trying
to sort them and define them logically. It's very confusing.
So we have our code. M.E.D.B - Mixed Emotions, Don't Bother.
I'm feeling weird now. I have been raised all my life to
become a battleship and now that the time is coming, I am
both anxious and thrilled, happy and sorry".
"Such feelings are perfectly normal," I assured her, "I felt
the same way the first time I boarded the shuttle out of
Earth. New beginnings are often coupled with this feeling".
She raised a metallic hand and looked at it. "I will miss
this body," she said, "I've had it for ten years now".
"I felt the same way when I left my home for Starlight
academy," I told her, "like as not, the first few days would
be very confusing. Everything would be different. Some
things would be new and exciting. Others may be terrifying.
It is perfectly normal".
She nodded.
"We'll have Dave and the other guys around you in the first
few weeks," I promised her, "to help you settle in".
"Ok," she nodded, "I'd like that. When do we leave?"

The ship was - well, not ugly - but very unconventional.
Nearly all the principals of ship-design were abandoned when
GS-33, HSS Archangel, was designed. It had to be different.
Crew quarters, mess hall, food storage, life support,
everything else that was necessary for a ship full of
humans, were all removed. The Archangel would have no human
crew. The freed room was aptly allocated for weaponry and
defense mechanisms. Being only a Battle-Cruiser size,
Archangel was like to surpass even the great Dreadnoughts in
terms of Firepower and Staying power. Most naval personnel
shunned the sight of her squat ungainly form. I feared that
Archangel herself, the Digital Sentience, would feel the
same but she asked to see her new body before the transfer
and I could not find it in me to refuse her. Standing next
to me in her humanoid body, she stared at the dock and the
halfway-completed body.
"Well?" I asked, fearing what she may feel for this weird
ship that is to be her body.
"It's beautiful," she said after a while, "it's not
conventional but I can see why. It's effective".
"You like it?" I asked, relieved.
"Of course," she nodded, "I told I try to enjoy the good
things rather than fret over the wrong ones. I believe I
will grow to like this new body. Can we begin with the
transfer now?".
I glanced towards Dave and his crew.
He nodded. All the necessary equipment for opening the head,
extracting the "Brain Box" and installing it in the ship was
ready and standing by.
"Let's get on with it, then," She told us, "Better to face
the Gashian now than wait till he brings his friends".
"She has a way with metaphors," said Dave, "come on, Angel.
We'll put you in suspended animation and get you settled
in".

"One more tightening," said Dave, "yes. That's it. Ok, were
done. Let head out and meet her".
I followed the engineers out on the gangplank and took my
place next to Dave. He was sweating, anxious.
"Archangel," he called, "wake up!".
The ship engines came alive with a sudden thrum.
"Angel!" Dave called, "wait, don't do anything. Don't try to
comprehend your body yet!"
"Dave?" the voice was the same synthesized female voice but
it boomed out of the ship's outer-hall speakers.
"I'm here, Angel," Dave's voice was soft, "don't freak out
on me, girl. You need time to understand your new body. Can
you discern the visual-recognition methods?".
"I think... yes. There it is. I see you now, Dave. Oh god,
you are so small".
"You have a different scale now, Angel," he told her.
"Dave," she sounded lost, "I'm feeling so weird".
"Your body's different, Angel," he told her, "You'll get
used to it. Can you turn the engines off?".
"There," she replied and the engines died.

It was the beginning. Gunship-33, HSS Archangel, did require
a few weeks to fully come to terms with her new body. By the
time she was fully in control of herself, the building was
proceeding very neatly. Most of her systems were installed
and her hall was nearly complete. UN Central Command was
most pleased with the progress. As part of the work, Dave
and his engineers were gradually separated from her, in
order to decrease her dependence on them. One by one, each
got a new assignment. As it were, Dave was the last one to
be reassigned - he was sent to serve onboard Strike Carrier
13, The HSS Dauntless. Archangel missed them all and Dave
the most but she was determined to get over it and make them
all proud. I promised her that SC-13 would be relieved of
its system-patrol assignment in Beta Draconis and return to
Earth in time for her christening. UN Central Command
thought the request was odd but I urged them to take into
consideration that Archangel was not a machine but a
living feeling being and that this small investment of
bringing Dave to her christening would be just the same as
bringing a father to his daughter's graduation ceremony.
UNCC finally gave in to this request. It was yet to come
though. Archangel still had to go three more weeks and of
building and then another couple of months of testing-runs.

Only Archangel would never see her christening day. She was
keen on listening to Void-communications coming and going to
UNCC. There was no way she'd miss the urgent distress call
from Fleet-Defender 51, the Decisive.
"Our patrolling forces in Beta Draconis are under attack by
a large Gashian fleet," called the Decisive, "We have formed
a barrier between them and the planet itself but we don't
see them doing much. Right now they are just sending
hit-and-runs, trying to find a weak spot in our defenses.
It's probable that they're waiting for reinforcements to
arrive and the overwhelm us. They are hiding in the outer
asteroid belt though and there's no chance we can attack
them there - it's a very good place to set up a defensive
act!".
"Admiral," she told as she heard the message, "Dave is
there! We have to help him!".
"We?" I asked her, "Angel, you're not even complete and me,
I'm just a Galactic Science Corps. attaché,
understand? There's nothing we can do. UNCC will probably
meet over it and decide what to do".
"But there's no time!" she replied anxiously, "it's a three
days lag to travel from here to there and there may be
Gashians already enroute. They need to send reinforcements
there now!".
"Nobody works that fast," I told her, "especially not the
United Nations. They will meet and see what to do and then
they will do it".
"Please, Admiral," she told me, "You have to talk to them!
Urge them to act fast! Please! Dave may be in danger!".
I knew I couldn't do much to hasten UNCC but it was
important to her so I decided I'll go talk to them.
"Promise me you won't do anything rash while I'm gone," I
said.
"Ok Admiral," she replied, "but do make haste".
"At once Angel," I said and went towards the elevator. I
froze suddenly as I heard her engines rumble into life. I
turned in time to see one of her laser turrets cuts one of
the four magnetic coils that tied her to the dock with
deadly precision.
"Wait!" I cried, "You promised!".
"You're not gone yet, Admiral," she replied, her laser
turret cutting another coil.
She minimized any collateral damage, using the laser
precisely enough time to burn the third coil without so much
as scratching the dock behind it.
"Angel," I called, "Stop! You're not even complete!"
"I'm complete enough, Admiral," she replied, "Dave may be in
danger. What would you have done if it was your father?"
"But you promised!" I cried again.
"Admiral," she cut the last coil and began to slowly reverse
out of the dock, "a machine is always truthful. I am a
living being. I can lie!".
With not another word she sped through the force-field at
the far end of the dock and out into space. I watched
helplessly as Archangel winked suddenly and disappeared.

Three days later. A newly arrived Gashian fleet has engaged
the human fleet in Beta Draconis. Built around an immense
"Vampire" class Dreadnought, the Gashian fleet was battering
the human fleet. FD-51, FD-72, IF-14 and SC-4 were destroyed
in the first hour. The rest of the fleet, A light cruiser
size Gunship, two destroyer size Gunships, three more
Fleet-Defenders, two more Indirect Fire ships and three
Strike Carriers has regrouped and formed around the Heavy
Carrier HSS Nantucket, hopelessly trying to stall the
Gashians from getting to the planet itself. Most ships were
already damaged. GS-9, The light cruiser Valley Forge was
barely mobile and IF-18 Grandeur's starboard launchers were
a charred black wreck. Nantucket herself was leaking
drive-plasma out of three holes. The Gashian fleet reformed
itself into a wall of ships with the Vampire in the middle
and was advancing. Onboard Nantucket, a sensor operator has
raised his head suddenly.
"Captain," he called, "I have a void-in signature! Oh my
god! Sir, the new ship has voided right behind the Gashian
formation. She's firing on the Vampire"
"Get me ID on that Vessel!" called the captain, "Who's so
stupidly brave to attack them on his own?"
"I don't... I'm not sure, sir! She's not responding to my
hails. The IFF codes say she's human but the emissions are
all wrong".
"What do you mean wrong?".
"Hold on sir," a second sensor operator said, "I... got a
visual! WHAT THE HELL KIND OF SHIP IS THAT???"
The newly arrived ship brought immense firepower to bear,
rocking the Gashian dreadnought. As one, the Gashian fleet
turned back to deal with the new threat.
"There's our chance!" called the captain of Nantucket, "All
ships, be advised! Forward with all haste! Let's get them
while they're with their backs turned on us".
The mystery ship ignored the fire that rained on her,
putting pressure on the Vampire. Closing with them, the
human sensor operators started discerning details on the
ship.
"She's not marked nor even painted, sir," said one, "and she
appears to... missing parts in her lower hull. Sir, this
ship is incomplete!".
Recognizing their sudden change of balance, both Destroyer
Gunships concentrated their fire on the weakening
dreadnought.
It was too much to bear. Even the immense dreadnought could
not stand that onslaught. Recognizing the danger, the
Vampire turned to attempt an escape. The newly dubbed
Incomplete Ship sped suddenly, her twin Ion-Cannon Arrays
flashing blue-white beams. She looked like a knight on a
horse, jousting forwards with his lance couched and ready to
strike. The Vampire tried a desperate evasive maneuver but
it was too little and too late. The Incomplete Ship rammed
the dreadnought's charred port side, tearing armor and hull
asunder. Once past the hull and armor, the Ion beams tore at
the fragile insides of the dreadnought like a hot knife
through butter. With a flash and some minor explosions, the
Vampire broke in two, spraying crew and equipment into the
cold of space. The battered human fleet was striking at the
confused Gashian formation. The Incomplete Ship swung about,
its bow armor somewhat twisted by the ram. It picked a
Reaver Mk. I light destroyer and fired a salvo of torpedoes.
Suddenly the Gashians had enough. One by one they turned and
voided away to safety. The human fleet and the Incomplete
ship were able to take a Reaver Mk. I and two Wight frigates
before the last Gashian was gone.
Onboard the SC-13 Dauntless, they Tactical Officer said,
"The Incomplete Ship is hailing us! They want to know what's
our status".
"Well," his captain shrugged, "tell them".
"Dauntless to ship. We're fine. We took two hits to the
lower decks earlier but the armor caught most of the blasts
and there were no casualties".
"Good to know," the Incomplete Ship replied, "watch over
yourselves".
Without another word, the Incomplete Ship voided away.

She never returned to Earth though. Some said that she
feared punishment for her disobedience. Others thought she
decided she's superior to us and would not yield to low
creatures like us. I for one think that she simply
discovered what it means to be free. Being a living, feeling
being, I believe that she simply decided for herself the she
doesn't want to give up this freedom. The loss of the
Archangel spelled the end to the Sentient-Ship project. And
yet, in years to come, tales spread about the Incomplete
ship slipping into the thick of battle, aiding human ships.
UNCC denied any knowledge of such a ship and declared that
it is naught more than a legend. Those who believed in the
Legend, however, starting referring to the Incomplete Ship
as a guardian Angel. I haven't met Dave since he left for
the Dauntless. The great Flux caught him away from Earth. To
this day I wonder, what happened when he saw the footage. To
this day I wonder what he felt when his Angel voided in to
his rescue. I still wonder about her, too. Archangel had an
automatic repair system installed on her but she had no way
go gain spare parts, nor replacement for her Torillium Core.
Yet she kept voiding into the thick of battles and I don't
believe that she just sustained hit after hit without any
sort of repair. I hope the Flux caught her when she was
someplace safe. One day, this Flux may be over. When it
does, I hope that she will once again appear, throwing
herself into the thick of battle again for the sake of her
friends. This story is not some fairytale. The Incomplete
Ship exists. Closing on death, I understand what oblivion
means. They say that you are never truly dead as long as
people remember you. This is why I write this story. Even
after I will be gone, people will read it and remember the
Archangel.

The End



Author's note
Some may find "Legend of the Incomplete Ship" a bit
Incomplete by itself.
That may be so. "Legend of the Incomplete Ship" is based
upon the rumored "Incomplete Ship" which is referred to in
"The Last Voiding". More information and additional details
to whatever rumors were laid into "The Last Voiding" were in
order. When joined together, details from both stories offer
the near complete tale of the GS-33 Archangel. It must be
pointed though, that the "Incomplete Ship" is an
idea/character that predates both "The Last Voiding" and
this offshoot.

Ehud Gat
Friday, the 15 of October, 2004